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Nick Tennant builds LED business after leaving medical marijuana trade school

20 in their 20s revisited

Since 2006, Crain's has gathered 20 of the community's emerging leaders for a special salute.• 20 in their 20s Class of 2014: In print May 5• Join the conversation on Twitter: #cdb20s• Past 20s winners: Read our special section online.

As Crain’s Detroit Business approaches the May 5 unveiling of the 20 in their 20s Class of 2014, we catch up with some of the previous award recipients.

Then: Nick Tennant was 24 and founder and president of Med Grow Cannabis College, a trade school for state-licensed medical marijuana growers and caregivers.

Now: Tennant is 28 and works at Royal Oak-based Elumatech, a company that retrofits businesses with high-efficiency LED lighting systems, which he co-founded in February 2013.

What has happened since you were honored as a Twenty in their 20s? “I continued to work on Med Grow, but eventually, I saw the legislation relating to marijuana tightening up in Michigan and other opportunities not opening up like we thought they would, including medical marijuana dispensaries.

“I decided to take a buyout by my partners and began looking at other opportunities, and passed on several, before I went ahead and executed this one at Elumatech.”

What’s next? “I’m going to focus internally on growing Elumatech. It’s a young company with tremendous opportunity, and we have a really highly motivated staff.”

“It will probably take three to five years to get the business built to meet our executive goal, but I believe the business model makes a lot of sense to make that happen.”

Advice to the new Twenty in their 20s class? “Try to find mentors that have been down the road before. The phrase ‘nothing fails like success’ is true. Young people tend to get a successful company and think they can relax, but you really have to stay driven because things tend to fall apart more often than staying organized.”